Dimensions
by Sophie-U.F
Summary: hetalia x reader series
1. Intro

How troublesome...  
>Yet another day of school... Dealing with the populars and the teachers, getting through the lessons, surviving throughout the day, just like every other day of my life; I hide myself from everyone else and, sometimes, dream about how would my life be if I just were to live in a different world other than this own.<br>Do you want to know where I would like to live? Well, for a start, I've always been a great fan of sci-fi, anime and manga, so there were a lot of places and characters I usually dream about, but there is this place I dream about more than any other, the world of Hetalia. Don't think I'm stupid, I know these places are purely fictional, but they are my only escape from the real world, the world that hates my existence and tries to turn it into Hell itself, so don't blame me.  
>As I was saying, a normal day of school, maybe a little worse than usual. The populars had been leaving me in peace for the last days, but, obviously, that peace had to come to an end. The cheerleaders felt (or, at least, I think they did) the need to bully me again; my mind didn't register what exactly happened, the only thing I remember is the roar of laughter that echoed in my ears and the 'snap' of photos being taken.<br>I started running to wherever my legs could take me. My refuge ended up being the girl's bathroom; I looked at the mirror and, from my feet to my head, I was covered in flour, my hair was full of spaghetti and that thing they call meat but no one really knows for sure what is. The urge to cry grew bigger than I was able to handle.

I don't know how much time has passed since I entered the bathroom to hide from those bullies, but it has certainly been awhile, I could tell so for my migraine and dry tears.  
>With a sniff, I raised my head at a strange sound that seemed to come from somewhere in the bathroom. Tiredly, I got up to look for the sound's source; I looked around, and I did find something, from one of the cabinets was coming a mysterious purple-ish light. My head was screaming at me to turn around and walk away; but, against my good sense and following both my curiosity and my thought of 'if something happens, no one will care either way', I opened the cabinet's door.<br>I felt myself being pulled from my feet and into the purple vortex; a yell left my lips as my body was pulled into the unknown, even though a thought didn't leave my head: 'It can't be worse than my life at this school!'

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" My scream was engulfed by the vortex of purple, pink and blue.


	2. Pirate Prussia

Here I was now, standing in the middle of a colourful nowhere. I looked around, but nothing other than the colours and myself was to be seen. I called for someone for help, but my voice was lost in this place of nothing.  
>Despair was starting to get to me; sure I wanted to escape my lonely life, but not for one that was even lonelier. There was nothing in here, there was no one in here.<br>"Hello!" I tried once again. "Is there anybody here? If there's someone here, answer me! Please!"  
>Still nothing in sight, but, this time, there was something different; the sound of an echoing voice reached my ears.<br>"A life for a life..."  
>"What...?" I wondered, confused at whatever they meant with that.<br>"A time for a time..."  
>"Who's there?" I demanded, starting to get officially freaked out at my current situation.<br>"A memory for a memory..."  
>My eyes furiously darted around in search for the voice's source. No avail, the voice didn't seem to come from anywhere, even though it also seemed to be coming from every possible direction around me.<br>The voice started again, faster:

"A life for a life,  
>A time for a time,<br>A memory for a memory..."

The same sentence was repeated again and again, faster and faster, louder and louder.  
>As the voice grew stronger, my mind started to get fuzzy, my thoughts started to mix senselessly with each other; I felt as though my head was about to blow up.<br>"Stop it!" I begged, clutching viciously to my head, but my voice seemed to get weaker as the mysterious echoing voice grew stronger. I fell down to my knees, whimpering for the voice to stop; then, silence.  
>I blinked my eyes open and my hands retreated from my head; carefully, I got back up on my feet, surprised at the sudden disappearance of the voice.<br>"What happened?" I whispered to myself.  
>"Some wishes are granted..." the voice had returned, but, this time, it was coming from a specific direction.<br>Turning around, I saw something... odd! The voice belonged to a shadow, a shadow with the figure of a girl.  
>"...others are not." she continued. "Your wish was accepted!"<br>"What do you mean?" I asked.  
>The shadow startled me, when it abruptly revealed the existence of blood-red scrutinizing eyes.<br>"I'm going to send you away from your world." it stated, it's previously suave voice now appearing ragged and ear-wrenching.  
>"W-what?"<br>"Are you stupid, girl?" it mocked. "Give me it and I'll send you!"  
>"I don't know what you're talking about, and I won't be giving you anything of mine!" I refused, shaking my head and stepping away from the figure.<br>"You don't really have a choice, you know?" it laughed, pointing a finger somewhere. "Look there, your time is ticking! Stay here or go, it's your choice~!"  
>Following it's finger I could see a vortex; where it had come from I didn't know, but it certainly wasn't there before. The vortex swirled with tones of black, white, silver and golden.<br>"I don't..." I started, but was suddenly pushed into the vortex.  
>"Wrong answer~..." mused the shadow while pushing me.<br>I lost balance and fell backwards after a sentence resounded:

"A life for a life,  
>A time for a time,<br>A memory for a memory...  
>That is how the world works, to obtain something, you must loose something. There is a lot of trades you can make, you know what is this one?<br>A WORLD FOR A WORLD!" it was the shadow, a wicked laughter reverberating as the words ended.  
>As the new vortex engulfed my body, I felt as though a part of me had been left behind. A world for a world, it said? My world for what world...?<p>

Floating in the middle of a black, white, silver and golden space, I felt lost, is this some kind of passage way or the actual world that shadow had sent me too? I honestly hoped it wasn't the latter... But the fact was that this place didn't seem like a passage way, more like an infinity of nothing.

I don't know how much time it had passed as I floated in the air, when something weird happened. First, a (f/c) light enveloped my body, somehow turning my clothes into a medieval (f/c) dress, then the colours of the space were quickly turning into blue all around me, not only that, but the space was also being filled with water; I started panicking, I was never a great fan of water, nor was I a great swimmer, quite the opposite actually, I could maintain myself at the surface, but that was all. Now being surrounded by water from all sides and seeing nothing but blue, fear was slowly winning me over.

(change of POV for 3rd person)

The day wasn't bad, but it wasn't sunny either as the pirate ship sailed on the Atlantic Ocean. Things were following their normal course, until...  
>"Capt'n, I saw someone in zhe vater!" called one of the subordinates.<br>"In zhe vater? Zhat's not possible, ve're in zhe middle of zhe ocean!" argued the captain, a young man with silver short hair and red eyes.  
>"Nein, captain, he's telling zhe truth! Zhere's a girl in zhe vater!"<br>"A girl?" he wondered, leaving the wheel to join the sailors. Looking at the water, he saw, in fact, a girl, slowly starting to be swallowed by the huge mass of water. In a moment, he took off his hat and jacket.  
>"Get a rope!" he ordered, before diving into the sea.<p>

A commotion was created on the ship as every member of the crew searched for a strong rope that wasn't being used to hold down sails or cannons.

The water was cold, or so it felt as it touched his skin. Looking around, he searched for the girl, finding only the sight of her (h/c) hair as well as a pool of flour floating while her body was slowly being dragged down. Diving, he managed to grasp her waist, quickly pulling her up with him.  
>Breaking through the surface of the water, the silverette grabbed with his free hand the rope that dangled beside the ship.<br>"Pull!" he shouted upwards, his demand being almost immediately answered by his subordinates.

Back to his ship, the ruby-eyed male took his jacket and hat back while a soft 'thud' accompanied the fall of the female body to the ground.  
>Her body was limp and pale and her breathing seemingly nonexistent. Surprising everyone around, a coughing fit and spits of water were triggered as her back hit the ground; in a tentative not to gag with the water that was coming out, the girl sat up suddenly, holding her torso up with one arm, while the other hand was close to her mouth.<p>

"You're alive? Surprising, frau!" chuckled the captain of the ship.  
>Surprised at the unexpected presence, the female looked up.<br>"What happened? Who are you, and... Where am I?" she asked, warily observing her surroundings.  
>"You don't know?" the captain of the ship laughed. "You have to be kidding!"<br>"I'm not!" snapped the girl. "I wouldn't have asked if I knew where I was!"  
>The snake-like laughter stopped all of a sudden, when the male blinked dumbly at the (hc) head.  
>"You really don't know?" he echoed.<br>"No!" she flatly confirmed.  
>"Vell, frau, you're in zhe awesome pirate ship from vhich zhe awesome me is zhe captain!" he stated proudly.<br>"So... I'm in a ship?" she repeated, obtaining a nod from the loud male. "And where exactly is this ship, right now?"  
>"In zhe Atlantic!" he answered.<br>"And you are~?" she mused, eyeing him from toes to head.  
>"I am zhe most infamous of pirates, zhe awesome captain Gilbert Beilschmidt!"<br>"Oh... Okay... Well, I'm (f/n) (l/n), it's a pleasure to meet you!" presented the girl.

"SPANISH COAST IN SIGHT, CAPT'N!"  
>"Make yourself at home, frau, ve're arriving our destination!" informed the german, leaving the girl and going back to the wheel.<p>

Carefully, the girl got up on her feet and, more attentively now, observed her surroundings; where the hell had that shadow send her too? She had no knowledge about any place in the world where people still used medieval clothing, swords and pirate ships still fully made of wood; there was no signal of a motor, or any electronic device for that matter; and, come to think of it, the name 'Gilbert Beilschmidt' did ring a bell, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it, was it from a book, a class, a TV show maybe? She couldn't remember! But all of this was strange, looking down at her own clothes, the shadow had also provided her with a medieval dress, but why? Honestly, only an hypotheses came to her mind, but she needed confirmation.  
>She looked around, detecting a lonely sailor drinking what it looked to be either beer or rum, the bottle was dirty so it was kind of hard to see; he didn't seemed occupied with anything, so she walked up to him.<br>"Excuse me, mister!" she called, getting his attention. "Could you tell me which year are we in?"  
>"1602." he answered.<br>"Oh, thank you!" she thanked, before walking away.  
>'So, I'm in the XVII century... How is that even possible?' she thought with a sigh, looking at the horizon while trying to find possible solutions for her problem. She was distracted for a long while, long enough not to notice the boat's arrival to land.<br>There she was, thinking, watching the view, when...

"Eh!? Amigo, who's that?" asked a brunette.  
>"Zhe frau? I found her in zhe middle of zhe ocean!" answered Gilbert.<br>"The ocean, you say? What was she doing in there? Women are supposedly bad luck for ships, no?"  
>"I don't know, she said she didn't even how she got zhere!"<br>"That's weird." mused the spanish. "Hm... Maybe we should talk to her!"  
>"Ja, maybe ve should." agreed the german, before calling: "Hej, fraulein, are you coming or nein?"<br>(F/n) whirled around to face the duo of pirates.  
>'Don't go, it might be dangerous. You're dealing with pirates after all, actual real pirates!' her inner self said, but, once again, she just decided to not pay attention to what her conscience said, and did the exact opposite; she walked up to the two males.<br>"What?" she asked.  
>"Buenas, chica!" chirped the spanish. "My name is Antonio Carriedo!"<br>"Hi, I'm (f/n)!"  
>"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl~!" he mused with a wink. "We were wondering if you'd like to keep us company while we have a drink."<br>"Where are you going to 'have a drink'?" she mocked softly, lightly raising an eyebrow.  
>"In mein awesome cabinet!" responded the silver head, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Zhose unawesome bars are for zhe sailors!"<br>'Yeah, right, whatever you say...' scoffed her innerself, but what left her mouth was: "I-I don't know, I really think I shouldn't..."  
>"You have anyzhing else to be doing?" demanded the german.<br>"Well, no, but..."  
>"Fantastico! Then you won't mind keeping us company!" the spanish interrupted.<br>Before she could realize, they had taken her to the captain's cabinet, so far so good; what worried her was the sound of the door being locked, it made her heart beat increase ever so lightly. And, out of a sudden, she was forced to sit down on a chair.  
>'Great, (fn)! See? That's what you get for ignoring your good sense.'  
>"Perdon por nuestros modos, señorita." Antonio apologised. "But we have a few questions we would like to ask you! You don't mind, do you?"<br>"Go ahead!" she sighed. 'Not like I have a choice...'  
>"Vhat vere you doing in zhe middle of novhere?" inquired the prussian captain.<br>"I told you already!" she huffed. "I don't know, I don't know what I was doing there, I can't recall where I came from and I don't remember all that much about my home!"  
>"And you really don't remember how you got zhere?" asked the silver head.<br>"Well..."  
>"Ja?"<br>"The last thing I remember is being sucked into a black, white, silver and golden vortex." she mused thoughtfully.  
>"A vortex?" wondered Antonio. "What's that?"<br>"It's kind of like a whirlwind..." explained the (h/c) head.  
>"Und after zhat?" asked the prussian, obtaining a head shake from the girl.<br>"I don't remember anything else, until I woke up in your ship." she assured.  
>"What were the colours of that 'vortex' again?" inquired the spanish.<br>"Vhat are you zhinking, Toni?"  
>"Nothing much..." replied the brunette.<br>"The colours were black, white, golden and silver, why do you ask?" said the female.  
>"It's just... No, it's probably nothing..." muttered the spaniard, more to himself than to the others.<br>"You're not going to leave us hanging now, are you?" intervened Gilbert, raising an eyebrow at his friend.  
>"Well... It might be just a coincidence, but she appeared where you were and those are the colours of your flag..." Antonio reasoned.<br>"Vhat are you saying?" inquired the red-eyed male.  
>"Maybe you should keep her close by, nothing else!" stated the shorter of the two males.<br>"Maybe~..." mused the german, suddenly turning away from his friend to face the girl. "Vell, fraulein, it looks like you'll be enjoying mein awesome company from now on!"  
>"Huh... S-sure, I guess...?" she replied, while her mind argued vehemently:<br>'This is a terrible idea, you should stay in this port and start to look for some way to return home! Don't go with the pirates! Hey, why do you never listen to me?'

-  
>Months passed by much quicker than expected.<br>During that time she met a lot of new people, from friends to supposed enemies.  
>One of Gilbert's greatest enemies when it came to piracy, was the british captain, Arthur Kirkland. He had been quite the gentleman, even after kidnapping her in order to blackmail the prussian; but he also had promised to help her find a way to return to the home she didn't remember, with the help of both his magic and bestfriends.<br>She met Gilbert's and Antonio's bestfriend, the french captain, Francis Bonnefoy, a true romantic he was, maybe a little too much; she was showered in kisses, roses and presents everytime they met, and that usually did not leave captain Beilschmidt in a good humor, for what reason, was unknown to (f/n).  
>She met two childhood friends of the prussian, Elizabeta Hédérvary and Roderich Eidelstein. Both girls got along wonderfully. But the same couldn't be said about the austrian; he thought the (nationality) was plainly uncouth; she thought the austrian was stiff idiot, even if she did like his music.<br>She met Gilbert's little brother. The boy was the most adorable thing; he was sweet, nice, admired his older brother and was always concerning over the prussian. The first time they had seen each other, little Ludwig was more than suspicious, he almost never took his eyes away from her to make sure she didn't do anything bad; after a while, he grew closer to her and warmed up to her, to the point of calling her 'sister' and considering her almost his mother. The boy was an absolute sweet.  
>She met a lot of other people, many of them somehow related to the prussian she constantly followed around.<br>During that time, she also discovered a secret, a secret that involved, not only Gilbert, but also most of the people she had come to know; they weren't humans, not normal humans at least, they were personifications, the personifications of their countries. Now she understood what Toni had meant when he said the colours of the vortex were the colours of Gilbert's flag; Gilbert was Prussia, and Prussia's flag had those colours.  
>But there was one more thing... It had been almost a year ever since the prussian found her almost drowning in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Across that time, at some point, a switch somewhere inside her mind had been activated, she had developed something for the albino, something that she couldn't explain, something that she knew exactly what it was, something she had not the courage to confess to anyone; she had grown to love that eccentric pirate captain, Gilbert Beilschmidt. But the thought of being rejected, and the knowledge of his immortality and her mortality kept her from revealing anything to anyone; that is, until an idea struck her mind...<p>

It was nighttime, she managed to escape the cabinet without waking the silverette. If she really wanted to do this, she'd have to hurry; find her way to Arthur's ship, convince the british and go back to pretend to be asleep, all before the first morning rays, because that was when the prussian would wake.  
>Silently, she slipped away from the cabinet, exited the vessel, and carefully made her way to the opposite end of the docks, where she knew Arthur's ship would be. Avoiding to be seen by anyone, she reached the door that lead to the british captain's cabinet; she tried to open the door, but, seeing that it was locked, she knocked softly.<br>"Arthur, it's me, (f/n)! Please, open the door..." she called in a whisper.  
>A few moments passed before the sound of the lock opening was heard.<br>"(F/n), lass, what are ya doin' here?" asked sleepily the blond; the (h/c) head shifted and fidgeted under his gaze, suddenly afraid of asking for the favour.  
>"(Fn), is everything okay?" he wondered, overlooking her nervous frame.  
>"Y-yes!" she shot. "I just... I wanted to ask you... something..."<br>"Go ahead, lass!" encouraged the brit.  
>"Do you... for any chance... happen to know how... how to turn someone into an immortal, like you?" she stuttered. Britain's eyes widened at this; he pulled her inside his cabinet and looked around, before locking the door again.<br>"Why are you asking this?" he demanded harshly.  
>"I'm sorry, it's just... I just..." she hiccuped, looking away from the male; his eyes softened at the sight.<br>"I do... know a spell, but why did you ask me about it?" Arthur sighed.  
>"W-well... Tomorrow makes one year since Gilbert found me in the Atlantic..." she explained. "And, across this time, I... I grew closer to him, a-and I came to care about him... a lot more than I expected, and I... I..." a sigh left (tone) lips as she made a move to hug the pirate. "Oh, Arthur, I don't want to go back home..."<br>"You want me to use the spell on you." he stated, returning the hug; she nodded simply.  
>"I don't want to leave him, ever..."<br>"You realize how dangerous it is, right? A spell such as this."  
>"Yes, but I still want you to do it."<br>"Alright..." he sighed. "But it might take a while!"

- Time Skip of coloured lights and multicoloured flying bunnies -  
>- Prussia's pirate ship -<p>

The light coming from the windows of the cabinet awoke the prussian captain. Not so lazily, he got up and dressed, but there was something missing... There was no (f/n) shouting at him to stop being loud and let her sleep or whimpering about how hungry she was and for him to get her food or complaining about the bad bathing conditions of the ship; maybe she was feeling sick, her throat was sore or she was simply too tired to say anything? Either way, he walked up to her bed on the other side of the cabinet, thinking of the best way to wake the girl up with a scare. He was about to jump on top of her, but...

The prussian furiously exited his room.  
>"Vhere is (fn)?" he asked every member of his crew, but no one had seen her that day yet; that did it, he was mad, really mad.  
>In a matter of seconds, every single member of his crew was searching every centimeter of both the docks and the city for the lost female; the awesome Prussia himself was in search for her.<br>Come to think of it, wasn't the black sheep of Europe around too? Yes, he was! Everyone knew how Gilbert hated to ask for help, especially because of his pride; but he would open an exception this once, he knew that (f/n) and Arthur had a good friendship, he would ask for the brit's help this time, for (f/n)'s sake.

Quickly, the albino ran up to the british ship; he ignored the english sailors that tried to stop him and violently knocked on the captain's door.  
>Annoyed grumbles of 'I told you not to interrupt me' came from the inside along with heavy sound of footsteps; the door opened slightly as Arthur snapped:<br>"What the bloody hell d'ya want?" the english's eyes widened at the sight of the german.  
>"I... need help..." muttered the silverette, almost ashamed to pronounce the last word.<br>"What for?" inquired the blond.  
>"I can't... I can't find (fn) anyvhere!" whimpered the albino.  
>"W-well... I'm a little busy right now, but you can take my crew members to help you searching!" blurted the shorter male, his eyes nervously darting around as he tried to shoo the german away. Gilbert's eyebrow raised at this; he was sure that the brit was up to something.<br>"Vhat can be more important zhan her? I zhought you vere her friend!" retaliated the prussian.  
>"I-it's... difficult to explain!" excused the brit, sweat now covering his forehead.<br>"Vhat are you hiding, Kirkl-?" Gilbert's words died on his throat as he managed to slip into Arthur's cabinet and came to face the sight of the vanished (h/c) head's body being slowly lowered to the ground by a red light.  
>"Vhat did you do?" his voice was dangerously calm.<br>"What she asked me to." replied curtly the blond.  
>"You're lying, she vouldn't ask anyzhing like zhis!" shot the german, turning around and taking a hold of the british's collar. "Vhat did you do?" he demanded, his grip on the other's collar getting tighter by the second.<br>"Stop it, you git!" argued Arthur, slapping his fellow pirate's hands away. "She asked me to do this, for you!"  
>"Vhat are you talking about?" asked the prussian, closing his fists tightly in a tentative to calm himself down.<br>"Do you at least know what spell I did?" reprehended the brit.  
>"Nein..." muttered the taller male.<br>"No, of course not!" Arthur scoffed.  
>"...but her body's limp und..."<br>"Listen to me!" ordered England, interrupting the silverette. "What I did was an immortality spell!"  
>"Vhat...?" breathed out the prussian. "Vhy vould she do zhat?"<br>"You really don't get it, do you?" Arthur chuckled, earning a confused look from the red-eyed male. The english's eyes turned to the girl. "The lass really does care for you, you know?"  
>"You mean..."<br>"She came to visit me last night, asking me if I knew how to turn her into an immortal and telling me that she had stopped wanting to return home months ago. When I asked her why, she specified that it was because of you, because she didn't want to leave you!" explained the blond. "Honestly, I don't know what she sees in you; but (f/n) is a good friend, and I couldn't deny her request."  
>Silence fell upon the room while the prussian's head processed everything under the serious gaze of the brit. That same silence was broken not long after, by what it seemed like some kind of moan; the sound caused for the male's gazes to fall upon the female form just as she blinked her eyes open.<br>Seeing her opening those (e/c) orbs he had grown to love in the past year, sent a wave of relief and something else he couldn't identify quite well through the german's body; before he could realize, Gilbert was kneeling on the ground, cradling her sore body in his arms and showering her face with kisses while saying:  
>"Please don't ever do somezhing like zhat again, please, ich liebe dich (fn)! Don't ever disappear on me again, you hear? Ich liebe dich, (f/n), ich liebe dich!"  
>"Whoa, calm down, Gilbert!" she giggled. "I promise I won't disappear like that again, but..." she interrupted herself.<br>"But?" urged the albino.  
>"You know I don't understand german!" she recalled, lightly raising an eyebrow. At this, Gilbert got up with her and, softly, took her hands on his; out of a sudden, he pulled her close enough so their foreheads were touching. Proudly, he smirked down at her and repeated his words, this time in english:<br>"I love you!"  
>Before pulling her into a kiss.<p>

"I... Should be going now!" muttered Arthur, quickly taking his leave, leaving the other two alone.

After a couple of moments, they parted, but kept their foreheads together.  
>"I love you too..." she confessed, breathless.<br>"I know!"

~~~And I'll never leave you, no matter what!~~~


	3. 2P England

Here I stood, in the middle of a blue, pink and purple space, in the middle of nothing. Now, that's weird, what the hell was that vortex in the bathroom after all?

I didn't have much time to think about it as the colours around me started taking the actual shape of something. This new environment resembled the countryside, an odd countryside; the grass and leaves were red, the wood of the trees was white, the flowers and everything else was dark blue, but the sky remained a swirl of light blue, pink and purple. I felt lost and dislocated in here, why would a place like this even exist, there was no sign of life whatsoever, nor human, nor wild, and looking closer at the plants, they weren't breathing, they weren't alive! Just... what was this place?

"Hello! Is there anybody here? Someone, please, answer me!" I called, but everything remained silent (with the exception of my echo), not even wind or water could be heard.

I sighed, after an hour or two, and sat down, leaning my back on a tree trunk; for moments, my eyes closed, giving me a much needed rest. But my rest was interrupted when I felt something sticky on my shoulder, I blinked my eyes open and looked over at my shoulder; what I saw, terrified me, it was blood. Out of instinct, I stumbled back up on my feet and looked up, there, in the trunk, a statement was written in blood:

'A life for a life...'

Startled, I turned around to run, but another tree was on my way, with the following phrase:

'A time for a time...'

Trying to run towards another direction, there was another tree.

'A memory for a memory...'

Finally, I managed to escape those trees and started to run away, but, ever so often, a tree with one of those three statements would pop up on either side of me. I kept on running as fast as I could, until a larger tree, almost like a sequoia, cut my way, startling me, this tree had something different and, despite my fear, I was still curious about what it read:

'A life for a life,

A time for a time,

A memory for a memory...

That is how the world works, to obtain something, you must loose something. There is a lot of trades you can make, you know what is this one?

A WORLD FOR A WORLD!'

I didn't understand it, not right away, at least, but I also didn't have much time to dwell on the matter; the howling of wolves reached my ears, startling me. Instinctively, I tried to step back, but ended up tripping, probably over a rock or something of the kind, and fell into a vortex that swirled with the colours of dark blue, white and red.

In less than a second, the menacing howling disappeared along with the mysterious forest/countryside. And here I was again, alone, in the middle of a tricoloured space of nothing.

"What the hell is going on?" I whimpered. "I want to go back home..."

As the last words left my mouth, a neon blue and pink light enveloped my body, disappearing seconds later, having traded my clothes and the food covering me for a knee-length bright pink dress, bright pink flats, neon blue collants and a neon blue bow that decorated my (h/c) tresses.

I felt something coursing through me, I had a bad feeling about this; but, what could I do?

It wasn't long after that when the tricoloured space started to take the aspect of a street; one of those dark streets where no one dared to enter and from where screams and cries were heard. The sole thought made me shiver in fear as I cursed my curiosity; why did I have to go check on that weird vortex?

Looking up at the sky, I could tell it was getting late, the sky was already acquiring a purple-ish tone.

Drunken laughter accompanied by a clanking sound made my heartbeat increase violently; I whipped my head around to detect where the sound was coming from, I didn't see the source, but could tell where it was coming from and also that it was approaching my position rather quickly. Without a second thought, I did what my instinct told me and hid behind some trash cans, hopefully hidden from the sight of possible offenders.

- to the bakery (change of POV - Oliver) -

'Hm... I have a strange feeling, maybe I should check it... just in case!' I thought with a chuckle.

Following my 'feeling', I closed the bakery and decided to walk down one of my favourite streets in London.

Why was it one of my favourite streets, you ask? That's an easy question; no one but thugs, thieves, dependents and offenders entered this street, meaning it was easy for me to find 'ingredients' for my famous cupcakes!

But this day was different, something seemed... off! My feeling was confirmed when a cry for help reached my ears, that wasn't strange, what was strange was the fact of being the cry of a female.

- Back to the reader (change of POV - 3rd person) -

It was a good hiding place she got, hadn't it been for her foot to hit one of the trash cans, causing something to fall from it, revealing her position.

"Hey, lads, look what we've got here!"

"A young lady, eh?" one snickered, pulling her up by her arm, up enough so that her feet didn't touch the ground. "You know, miss, it's dangerous to walk around these streets alone, especially at a time like this~!"

"Ugh, leave me alone!" she spat, trying to kick them.

"She has some fighting spirit!" chuckled a third man, roughly tugging on her dress. "Shame it won't serve her much!"

The harassing kept going; but everything stopped abruptly when the man holding her cried out in pain, letting her fall to the ground.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Someone in here doesn't know how to treat a lady~!" mused the mystery man. Looking in his direction, (f/n) could see, even in the darkness, his neon blue orbs and the twinkling of the butcher's knife he was holding, but what sent shivers down her spine was the pink that swirled in his already bright eyes.

"Who are you?" demanded one of the offenders, looking down at the newcomer.

"Me?" he chuckled. "Just a gentleman trying to help a young lady!" he stated, slowly stepping into the circle of light, revealing his features to all the presents. One of the men's eyes widened as he shouted:

"I know him, he's that psycho Oliver Kirkland!"

'Oliver', or so had the man called him, seemed to snap after hearing the word 'psycho' describing him; in no more than 5 minutes, the circle of light had turned into the more bloody scene ever seen by the girl. Her horrified expression and her trembling body were enough of a evidence that she was not used to such scenes.

Shocked, she didn't move until the killer helped her up to her feet.

"Are you okay, poppet?" he asked; looking at him, the pink swirls had, for some reason, disappeared from his blue eyes, he didn't seem all that threatening without that crazy expression.

Still too shocked to talk, she limited herself to give him an affirmative nod.

"Good..." he sighed. "I am really sorry that you had to witness this, we should get you out of here now, yes?"

Again, she just nodded, but took his arm nonetheless, accepting his offer to get her out of that place.

He lead her out of the shady street in silence, getting them both to safety without so much as a scratch.

"Now... What was a young lady like you doing in a place like that?" he asked, figuring out that her shock had worn off by now.

"W-well... That is... I..." she stuttered, not knowing what to answer to that question; actually, now that she thought about it, how exactly had she got there, where had she came from? It seemed like the memories of her life prior to what happened had been wiped off her mind, leaving a mysterious fog behind.

Thinking about an answer, she stopped walking as her eyes seemed to look towards the infinite in search for herself.

"Poppet, are you feeling alright?" Oliver wondered, raising an eyebrow and waving a hand in front of her eyes, almost like a child would do.

"I... don't know..." she whispered, her (e/c) orbs starting to tremble as she came to the harsh realization that her memories, her life was lost; she had nothing.

"What?" wondered the strawberry-blond.

"I don't remember, I can't remember anything!" she blurted, looking up at the male with her eyes that started to tear up.

"What are you talking about, poppet? I don't understand." he said. "You don't remember how you got there?"

She shook her head violently.

"Alright, alright, that's okay, can you tell me where you came from?" he asked.

"I... I don't know..." she whispered, tears starting to fall from her eyes.

The brit furrowed his thick eyebrows.

"Hm... Tell me, poppet, do you recall anything at all?"

"I know my name, my age, my likes, my dislikes, but..."

"I see!" he mused, before taking her hand in his. "Come with, we'll find a way to help you!" he shot her a reassuring smile, starting to lead her away.

They stopped in front of a nice bakery, but...

"It's closed!" she stated bluntly.

"Oh, don't worry about that, poppet!" he chuckled. "It's my bakery!"

"Eh!? You're a baker, I would've never guessed..." she breathed out.

Always wearing a smile, Oliver lead her inside, making her sit in one of the tables. He was quick to go to the kitchen as something started to bother him in the exact moment he stepped into the store.

'Kill her, she's just like everyone else!' said a voice in his head.

"But she seems nice."

'They always do, until the moment when they don't need you anymore. She'll just turn her back away and leave, just wait...'

Somehow, the voice had made his hand move to the purple cupcakes, the ones with poison.

"But I wanted to give her something nice..." Oliver muttered in disagreement.

'Trust me, the best thing you can give her is an instant death!' assured the voice.

Divided about what he should do, he picked up both a pink and a purple cupcakes, only hoping that whatever choice he did would be the correct one.

"Tell me poppet, I never did catch your name!" said Oliver, emerging from the kitchen carrying a tray with the two cupcakes.

"Well, I'm (f/n), (f/n) (l/n)!" she answered with a small smile. "And you're Oliver, right?"

"That is correct!" he nodded, placing the tray on the table. He watched as the (h/c) head picked up the purple cupcake, and suddenly something clicked in his head. "You didn't run." he muttered.

The girl looked up from the cupcake, placing the treat down.

"What did you say?"

"You didn't run away from me, in that street." he repeated.

"Why would I run from someone who only tried to help?" she wondered, watching curiously the male.

"I killed those men!" he stated. "I'm a killer!"

"No less than them." (f/n) reasoned. "God knows what would've happened to me, hadn't you interfered!" she stated, picking up the purple cupcake again.

'I can't kill her!' he thought to himself.

"Wait!" he shot, stopping the girl from eating the cupcake. "Eat the pink one, it's better, I shouldn't have even bring you the purple one!"

"Okay...?" mused the girl, placing down one cupcake and grabbing the other one while thinking:

'Now, this is beyond weird, but I still find his actions cute...' the thought caused her to giggle softly, her actions catching the attention of the englishman.

"What are you laughing at?" he inquired with a pout.

"Nothing, I just find it cute how you're acting so sweet towards a complete stranger." she explained with a light smile, causing the male to look away with a light blush.

"Right...!" he muttered. "I still don't know what to do about you! I suppose I could take you with me..."

'...but then there's Al and the others to deal with!' his head finished for him.

"No, that would be asking too much from you!" refused the girl. "I can't!"

Absently, the male observed her, while having a conversation with himself:

'I can't just leave her here! But think about what they could do to her, she's completely defenseless! Ah, but if I hide her from them, then the problems vanish... That's it!'

"I insist that you come with me, poppet; you don't have a place to stay after all, do you?"

"I could always find some place..." she uttered.

"And stay at the mercy of people like that from earlier?" he mused, knowing that he got her with this.

"W-well..." she stuttered. "Fine, I'll go with you; I guess it won't do any harm." she sighed.

"Wonderful, poppet!" chirped the british. "But, please promise me something."

"What is it?"

"Do exactly as I tell you to, while you're inside my house!" he warned, something the girl couldn't quite identify flashing through his eyes.

"Huh... Sure!?" she nodded, a little uncertain.

- Time skip with walking, driving, talking and multicoloured cupcakes -

The house was quite big, a mansion almost with a garden of red roses in the front.

"Here we are!" stated the brit, carefully parking the car. The (h/c) head was about to step out of the car, but Oliver grabbed her arm, stopping her from doing so.

"What's wrong?" she wondered.

"From the moment you step out of that door, do exactly what I tell you to, you can't let ANYONE see you!"

"Sure... But why can't anyone see me?" she asked, frankly curious about his odd behaviour.

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to, poppet!" replied the neon blue eyed male, a flash of pink passed through his eyes making any possible question vanish from her mind in an instant. She didn't made a move.

Getting out of the car, Oliver, like a gentleman, opened her door for her to exit.

"Come along, poppet!" he said, offering his hand for her to take; warily, she took his hand, helping him pull her out of the car and up to her feet. He closed the door of the car and silently lead her to the front door of the house.

Before he could even open the door, loud crashing was heard from the inside of the building.

"What was that?" asked the girl, clearly startled.

"What I want you to avoid; listen closely..." he stated, then explaining which way she should take to reach a certain room inside the house and telling her to hide from any noise she heard close by or person she might see. "Oh, and one more thing, if you see anything resembling white fur,... Run!" he added.

She nodded dumbly, still trying to absorb all the information she had been provided with.

"Alright then, they should be in the living room; I'll try to keep them in there enough time for you to reach that room I told you." he stated, obtaining yet another nod from the female as he opened the door.

She ran around the maze of corridors, always hearing shouts from the place Oliver had identified as the living room, her heart racing until she reached the 'safe room' and shut the door close. Looking around, she confirmed that it was indeed the right room; it was just like Oliver had described; the room itself was decorated in the colours of bright pink and neon blue, it almost confused the eyes just looking, but that fact was saved by a couple of articles of the Union Jack flag: the cover of the bed, the closet, the floor and the flag itself that was hanging on the wall, even though that particular flag had a few spots, spots of... Blood?

She hadn't much time to think about it, as she got startled when the door of the room was suddenly opened.

"Calm down, poppet, it's just me!" Oliver chuckled, upon seeing her tense figure.

"I'm sorry, I just..."

"You're jumpy, that's fine!"

"Oliver, how am I going to stay here if the people you live with can't see me?"

"Well... For a starter, this room here has a bathroom, I'll improvise a bed, if you need any clothes I'll get something, and food... I'll bring you something from downstairs, the others almost never go to the kitchen, I'm sure they won't notice."

"Alright!" she acceded with a smile.

Oliver managed to keep his secret for a month!

The two were getting along wonderfully; and, after two weeks of her staying, he finally decided to tell her about why he didn't let her out of his room when there was someone in the house; he also changed her treatment from 'poppet' to 'cupcake'. The two grew extremely close to one another, even with the little voice always telling him to kill her slowly in order to hear her screams, and the fact that she was already aware that he was a killer that turned his victims into cupcakes.

But, during that month, something else had been triggered. What was it? It was Allen's suspicious side.

"I'm telling you, there's something fishy!" he shot, when Oliver was washing the clothes and preparing lunch on a certain Sunday.

"Are you sure it's not you, eh?" Matt snickered, causing a chuckle to erupt from François. "You could use a shower every once in a while!"

"Shut it, jackass!" growled the american. "I'm talking about the old man, he's been acting weird!"

"Hasn't he always?" scoffed the canadian.

"Non!" interfered the french. "Al is right, Oliver is 'iding somezhing."

"So what?" shot Matt. "Leave him with his girly secrets!"

"Right on the spot, Mattie!" grinned America. "I did hear a giggle from his room yesterday!"

"He's always giggling, what's so strange about that?" inquired Canada, playing with his hockey stick.

"But that wasn't him, it was a girl, in his room, giggling along with the old man!"

"And what are you zhinking of doing?" mused France, sipping on his drink.

"Isn't it obvious?" shot loudly the american. "I'm going to find that girl, and I want you to help me!"

"I'm busy!" refused Canada, almost immediately walking away with Kuma following him close by.

"If you want to get problems wizh Britain, don't count wizh me." stated France.

"Heh... Suit yourselves!" grumbled Allen, turning away to go upstairs to the brit's bedroom. "At least, I'll have my fun!"

- Time Skip where the reader is surprised by the american psycho -

A shout echoed throughout the whole mansion, but not just any shout; a female shout whose timber Oliver knew all too well.

Instincts kicking in, the englishman abandoned his task of preparing the lunch and took off running to the place where the yell had came from, his own bedroom.

He was quick to reach his room, Matt, Kuma and François trailing behind him, curious to watch the scene.

Inside the room, Allen, with his nailed baseball bat, had cornered a terrified (f/n) on the wall furthest away from the door.

"No escape now, doll face!" mused the american, getting his bat ready to strike; the girl closed her eyes, anticipating what was to happen.

"Do that and you'll become one of my cupcakes!" growled a familiar voice from the doorway, causing both victim and offender to turn their gazes to the source.

"It's just a chick, old man. You can find another!" scoffed the red head, waving his bat carelessly around as he talked; the female slid her back down the wall, in fear of the bat hitting her (whether for mistake or on purpose).

"No, I cannot!" argued the brit, tightening the grip on his butcher's knife. "Now leave her alone, Al!"

"Or what, old man?" mocked the american.

"I'll make sure you can never use that bat again." stated Oliver, swirls of pink appearing in his eyes.

"Tch, keep the girl I don't care!" shot America, stomping his way out of the house, closing the door rather loudly.

A sigh of relief left her lips and Oliver let his knife fall to the ground, rushing up to her and kneeling down beside her, pulling her up to her feet.

"Are you alright, cupcake?" he inquired, carefully examining her for any possible wounds. She nodded.

"Did he hurt you? A scratch, a pinch, anything at all?" he blurted, placing his hands on her cheeks and forcing her to look him in the eyes. She chuckled at his actions.

"Ollie, I'm fine, really! I'm not hurt, see?" she assured.

"Yes, I see it!" he answered with a smile. "Well, no use in hiding you anymore, is there?" he sighed.

"Seems like it!" she agreed, eyes travelling from the brit, to the two males standing in the doorway and the large bear, and then back at the englishman.

Eleven more months passed without their notice. They got her a room, right beside Oliver's and actually ended warming up to her.

Allen kept his same usual cocky attitude, always trying to get something from the girl; but, with a little help from Matt and Oliver, she learned how to scare the american off.

François was kind of neutral about her presence; he was nice and all, but didn't really act any different than with the others.

Matt developed a good relationship with the girl, especially after having found her tending for a large gash on Kuma's paw, she got scared when he found her disinfecting the bear's wound, but he helped her with curing the animal and the three actually grew quite close to each other. Matt even taught her how to scare off his twin whenever he was starting to become a pain.

And then, we had Oliver; Oliver who saved her life that night, Oliver who always protected her, Oliver who explained to her how to scare off unwanted people, Oliver who taught her how to make both normal cupcakes and cupcakes with his special recipe. He was a bit awkward, weird, creepy even, but he also knew how to be cheerful and a complete sweetheart, and, as difficult as it was for her to admit, she had developed strong feelings for the baker. Oliver, on his side, also harbored feelings for the girl, but, whenever someone tried to face him because of that, that same person would immediately forget about the matter at the sight of the butcher's knife tightly gripped by his hand and the pink swirls that abruptly emerged in his eyes whenever that matter was mentioned.

"You so~ like him, (nickname)!" America snickered.

"Leave me alone, Al, don't you have someone else to bother?" muttered the girl.

"Sure!" he mused. "But those fuckers won't live time enough to get annoyed!"

"You did it again..." she sighed, taking a laying position on the sofa. The red head was about to ask her what she meant with that, but before he could even utter a single word, a huge jar was shoved in his face, causing him to stumble backwards.

"SWEAR JAR!" there it was.

"Cut it out, old man, that's getting annoying!" growled the american.

"I'll stop doing this when you stop swearing!" stated Oliver. "Now, put a coin in the jar!"

"I won't be putting any more money in that stupid jar!" Allen argued.

"Just do it, Al. You he's too stubborn to let you go!" giggled the (h/c) head; a blush touched the englishman's cheeks, but his death glare remained fixed on his younger brother.

"Whatever..." grumbled the american. "Why do you never bother HER about swearing?"

"I never heard the cupcake swearing!" glared Oliver.

"You're covering her up, she swears almost as much as I do!" stated Allen.

"I do not!" contradicted the female.

"Yeah, you do, when you're arguing with me you do!" growled the red head.

"But you always start those arguments, Al, the cupcake is not to blame!" informed the british.

"Tsk, say whatever you fucking want..." grumbled the american, stomping away from them.

"Ollie~!" she mused. "Why is it you never get mad at me when I swear?"

"It, I mean... This is... It's complicated!" he stuttered nervously, diverting his eyes away from her.

"Hm? It can't be THAT complicated, can it?" (f/n) wondered.

"Well..." he muttered.

'Don't tell her, she'll just laugh at you! Kill her so you won't have more trouble!' there it was that little voice in his head again.

"No, I won't do that!" shot the british, shaking his head violently and walking away, to his room, where he could be alone.

"Ollie... What's wrong?" sighed the girl in a whisper, looking at the door where he had disappeared to; a chuckle that erupted from François caused her to turn around, raising an eyebrow at the french. "What?"

"'e likes you, zhat's what!" replied the blond as if it was a matter of fact.

"That... can't be..."

"Oh, but it is, ma cherie! Why do you zhink you're still alive in zhe house of four killers, being zhe one you deem your best friend zhe maddest of zhe group?" he inquired.

"Well..." she muttered.

"Don't know? It's because Oliver made it more zhan clear zhat 'e'd skin alive whoever touched you, even zhe bear!" he informed. "What's more, do you want to know what are all zhose outbursts of 'im like zhat one just now?"

Looking suspiciously at the frenchman, she wasn't really sure about wanting to know the answer to that question, but nodded nevertheless.

"'e's fighting wizh 'imself!" he stated, smirking at the confused expression in her face. "Fighting wizh 'imself about whezher or not to kill you. 'is urge to kill is enormous, but 'e doesn't want to kill you; 'is 'ead tells 'im to kill you, but 'is 'eart refuses. You're just lucky zhat 'is 'eart's wishes are stronger zhan 'is 'ead's in your case!"

"So, all in all, what you're saying is that...?"

"Il t'aime, ma cherie!" said the french with a nod.

"I... I should go talk to him..." she suggested, walking up to the door, but her way was cut by the north-american brothers.

"I wouldn't advise you to do that, eh!" intervened Matt, before (f/n) could say anything.

"The old man's having a fucking crisis again, and he's doing a very big fuss!" snickered Al.

"What are you talking about?" asked the (h/c) head, suddenly alarmed. "I'm sure he went upstairs to his room!"

"He did go, he just slipped away while you were talking with frenchy over there!" stated the red head.

"Well, either way I'm going!" huffed the girl, slipping through the brother's and the bear and running out of the house.

"H-hey, wait up, (nickname)!" Allen called, before taking off running after her, quickly being followed by the others, all ready to stop Oliver from slitting open the girl's throat.

She ran the way she had come to know well by the walks she took with the four males. She ran until she reached the entrance of a street she had sworn to Oliver she would never enter again, but this was an emergency, so he'd have to excuse her for this. She ran down the dark street where she had met Oliver for the first time, the street she knew all too well as being Oliver's favourite hunting zone. She ran until, finally, she caught sight of Oliver, only a couple meters away, in the middle of an enormous pool of blood, ready to cut yet another man in half.

"Oliver!" she called, catching his attention. He let the man fall from his grasp and fully turned to face.

"Oh, hello, poppet! What are you doing here?" his eyes were more pink than blue now and his grin emanated a dark sensation.

"Ollie, listen to me!" she asked.

"Ollie?" a frown took over his face. "That is NOT my name!" he growled, getting his knife ready to strike.

He stepped forward, she stepped backwards; one step front, one step back, and they continued like this, until her back hit a wall. The brit's smirk widened to the point that it was almost impossible and a dark chuckle left his mouth.

"You're not my poppet, no, you're a substitute my mind's giving me so I can get relieved!" he laughed; her eyes widened at this, his head was winning him over. One idea came to her mind, she had no idea if it wouldwork, but she had to try; hey, it always worked in books and films, so why not this case?

He kept advancing painfully slow. When he was close enough, she threw herself at him and placed her lips on his with only a thought:

'Please, let this work...'

A couple of moments passed in silence, neither of the two moved at all. It was in that same moment that the other three and the bear arrived in the bloody scene; the brothers were about to run forward, but François stopped them.

"What are you doing? The old man's going to kill her!" shot the american.

"Wait!" ordered the french, observing attentively the scene.

Out of the blue, the sound of the butcher's knife falling to the floor echoed in the empty street, surprising the north-american brothers.

Oliver felt the pink in his eyes disappear unexpectedly, and his now blue eyes moved to the girl kissing him. He parted away and took her into his arms, hugging her close to his chest while letting himself fall to his knees, blood splattering as they fell to the ground.

His eyes widened as realization hit him about what he had almost done.

"I-I'm so sorry, (f/n)!" he apologised, tears starting to spill from his eyes. "You must think I'm a monster, I almost killed you... You must hate me now..."

"Ollie!" she called softly. "I don't hate you and I don't think you're a monster!"

"You... don't?" he whispered.

"No." assured the (h/c) head. "Maybe a little psycho..." she joked with a smile, obtaining a little chuckle from him. "...but that doesn't change anything!" she said, lightly caressing his cheek with her hand and wiping the fallen tears away. "You're still my bestfriend and I..." she paused, taking a deep breath. "...and I love you!" she admitted with a sigh.

Hearing this, the male's arms tightened around her form.

"I love you too, cupcake, and I'm really sorry that I almost harmed you!" he admitted.

"I know, Ollie, I know...!" she responded with a smile.

"What the fuck just happened?" shot Allen, watching stupidly the scene.

"Something unexpected, eh!" smirked the canadian.

"Maybe zhose fairy tails et romantique films aren't all zhat stupid after all, non?" chuckled François, obtaining inquiring looks from the brothers. "Love in some cases can really overcome anyzhing!"


	4. Viking Norway

I suddenly found myself in a most uncommon place; the sky remained swirling with the colours of blue, pink and purple, like the vortex, the was an infinity of pure white; this space was empty, an emptiness I had never witnessed before, nor did I thought possible of existing.  
>I looked around. Nothing! I walked around. Nothing! I tried to call for help. Nothing, not even my echo!<br>I spent hours wandering around this place of nothing, searching for someone, for something, for a way back. Why did I have to let my curiosity win me over and check the mysterious sound in the bathroom? Curse my stupidity; now I was literally in the middle of nowhere with apparently no hope of escaping!  
>After all the time I spent wandering, something caught my eye; only a couple of meters away from me was a female body, but the body was strange, her hair was long and pitch black, her skin was a pale pink, then there was her eyes... her eyes were hollow, this girl, no, this thing, seemed to have come straight out of an horror movie.<br>"Who are you?" I called out, maybe this thing could show me the way out of this place, hopefully.  
>"Me?" it wondered, turning it's head to face me. "I am me, just like you are you, and no one else."<br>"That... didn't answer my question..."  
>"The only you have that needs an answer is: where are you going?"<br>"I-I don't understand what you mean..." I stuttered, confused.  
>"You've been wishing for something for a while now, no?" it inquired.<br>"What does that have to do with any of this?" I demanded.  
>"Everything!" it stated. "And I'm here to tell you that, if you escape this place alive, your future might be waiting for you~."<br>Before I could say anything else, the mysterious being dissolved into the pure white floor, no signals remained of it's presence here just seconds ago.  
>"If I escape this place alive my future'll be waiting for me? What the hell does THAT mean?" I scoffed; that is, until I felt something hit my head, before I heard it falling to the ground. Looking down, I saw a small rock, even though I found it weird, I paid it no attention, until...<p>

"A life for a life..." it was that girl's voice, a rock almost my size fell a few meters away from me."  
>"A time for a time..." a larger rock fell a little closer to me; startled, I took a few steps backwards.<br>"A memory for a memory..." an enormous rock fell right in front of me. This was all it took, I turned around and took off running as fast as I could. I really needed to escape this place no matter what!  
>As I kept running while avoiding the falling boulders at the best of my abilities, the same voice echoed in this previously empty space:<p>

"A life for a life,  
>A time for a time,<br>A memory for a memory...  
>This is how it works, if you want something, something you must give.<br>Dimensions... Dimensions... Is something people really like to imagine about; but you know why no one really knows? Because the principle is the same!  
>For your wish, the principle is the same:<br>A life for a life, a time for a time, a memory for a memory, and..."

The voice stopped just as I came to a stop in front of two different vortexes, well they were really similar, the only actual difference was the colouring: one was pure white, the other swirled with the colours of red, white and dark blue. So, according to the 'girl', one of the vortexes was my way out, but which one?

"Having difficulty choosing?" came the feminine voice from behind me. "Here, let me help you!"  
>Next thing I knew, I had been pushed into the multicoloured vortex.<br>"You know what is the last trade?" asked the disfigured being as the vortex swallowed my body. "A world for a world!"

Weird... I always thought I would be swirling around if I ever entered a vortex and this is the second time today I was proved wrong. I mean, the colours of the vortex did swirl around me, but I was simply floating in the air, like some kind of illusionist.  
>I looked around. Wasn't this supposed to be my way out? Because this surely didn't seem exactly the place where my future was waiting for me!<br>Out of a sudden, I felt a pinch; looking down, my body was quickly being enveloped by a dark blue light. The light remained there for mere seconds, before disappearing; somehow the light had turned my clothes into an ankle-length dress, simple and made of what it looked to be polar-animal fur, despite the (f/c) colour, my shoes had been turned into black flats and my hair was now carefully braided, also the food and sauce covering me had vanished, even though the smell of the meat remained.  
>"What's happening?" I wondered, my question wasn't answered, right the opposite; the red, white and dark blue swirling me was quickly dissolving into the form of a thick forest, a nordic forest, it was extremely cold and everything was covered by snow. Silently, I thanked the gods for the long-sleeved fur dress, although I wasn't all that thankful about the shoes that had been given to me. I've been out here for not even a minute and I already felt my feet freezing.<br>"Great place to find a future!" I scoffed to myself, taking a completely random way to walk through the forest. "Honestly..."

(Change of POV - 3rd person)

She slowly made her way through the snowy grounds, embracing herself in a tentative to make the cold disappear, she could even see the puffs of air leaving her mouth due to her breathing. She wandered around the forest for god knows how long, the sky was starting to darken and she felt herself loosing strength, her body wanted to fall asleep, but her head assured that that would be the death of her, so she refused to break and kept walking; until, at some point, everything faded into black...

Somewhere else in the forest, a group of vikings returned their home-village from a hunt that had turned out beautifully; they were celebrating the amount of preys they had managed to catch.  
>They celebrated, until one of them caught sight of something, something that resembled a human body fainted in the snow. Calling the others' attention, the man that had sighted the body pointed his sighting a few meters ahead, half-covered by the falling snow. Curious, they approached, confirming that it was in fact a human body, the body of a young woman, to be exact; she was pale, much more than what it was considered healthy. The man leading the hunters, kneeled down next to her laying form and reached out to check her temperature, her skin was cold, she was freezing; looking for a pulse he found it, her heartbeat was weak, very weak, but it was still there, meaning there was still hope for the girl to survive. Carefully, he picked her up, and the vikings started on their way again, but, this time, faster.<p>

She started to feel conscient again, her eyelids felt heavy and her head was aching, but somehow she felt warm and comfortable, almost like she had never left her bed that day.  
>'Weird...' she thought. 'I'm sure snow is not warm!'<br>Slowly, she blinked her eyes open; she saw a wooden ceiling, that only ticked her curiosity off even more, and looking around, she was laying in a simple bed inside a room, a room that seemed taken out of that films of vikings or pirates. Now, that was strange indeed...  
>Was she in some kind of mountain house? Had someone rescued her from the snow? Where was she? And more importantly, what the hell had happened and what was happening right now?<br>With a wince, she sat up with the help of her arms. Unexpectedly, something fell from her forehead and to her lap; looking closely, she saw it was a wet cloth, like the ones people used to use to lower the fever. She gently picked the cloth up and placed her beside the pillow. Then, with a slight effort, she slipped from under the covers and got up from the bed.  
>It hurt a little to stand, but she stumbled across the room, using the wall as a support as she made her way to the door; silently, she opened said door, popping her head out of the door. On the other side was a rather large room with a big fireplace right in the middle of the room, the fire spread a pleasant warmth around the place; spotting no presence, she silently crept into the room, quickly exploring the division and the rest of the house before the owner of the house decided to make an appearance.<br>The house, in general, was fairly simple and didn't have all that much furniture and decorations, although it did have an altar dedicated to some god, for the looks of it it seemed an altar to the nordic god of the war and the thunder, Thor; for all she had seen, not only the bedroom, but the entire house seemed to have come from one of those films or documentaries about vikings, it was strange, to say the least; she didn't stepped outside, honestly, after everything she had seen JUST inside the house, she was a bit jumpy about what exactly could be find in the outside. With a sigh, she turned away from the door that lead outside and walked back to the altar, which she decided to examine closer, just in case there was something she had failed to notice that might help her discover about her current position and a way for her to return home. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't really remember much from before waking up in here; she tried harder, but no avail, she couldn't remember where she had come from, who her family was, who her friends and enemies were, nothing, the only thing she actually remembered were facts strictly about her.

The sound of the main door opening caught her attention and, startled, she abruptly turned around, only to come to face a blond man entering the house. He was tall, thin and his eyes were a dark shade of blue.  
>"You're awake." he stated, breaking her from her trance.<br>"A-ah... I..." she stuttered, not knowing for sure what to answer.  
>Ignoring her tentatives to say something, he dropped the cape of fur from his shoulders and moved to one of the wooden benches beside the fireplace, where he heavily sat down.<br>Dumbfounded, (f/n) followed the male with her eyes. Was it normal for people to act like that? Surely not, this guy was just weird; yeah, that was definitely it! Before she could say anything or move from her place beside the altar, the man's voice resounded:  
>"Why were you in there?" he asked, not turning to face her.<br>"There?" she wondered, unsure about what he was talking about. "Where?"  
>"In the forest." he clarified.<br>"I was?" she mused, trying to remember what had happened; her expression suddenly lit up. "Yes, I was! But..."  
>'How did I get there in the first place?' she thought to herself.<br>After a couple of minutes of silence, the blond turned around, only to find the girl frowning while furrowing her eyebrows in a thoughtful manner; he raised an eyebrow at the scene before him.  
>"I don't know..." she whispered, gazing up. "I don't remember... Anything..."<br>"I'm sure that's just temporary."  
>"No, you don't get it, I can't remember where I came from, how I got here, I don't remember my family and friends, I can't remember my home! And now, here I am, in the middle of god knows where, in god knows what time and with someone I don't know from absolutely anywhere!"<br>Ignoring her again, he got up and started walking towards the kitchen.  
>"Lukas!" he stated when passing by her on his way.<br>"What...?" she blinked in confusion.  
>"My name is Lukas!" he repeated.<br>"Oh... Well, I'm (f/n)!" she replied, before he walked away.

-  
>Slowly, the time passed, even slower as (fn) tried to get used to this new style of life: cooking, cleaning, having to light the fireplace up, among many other things, were tasks she had never really gotten used to, but, hey, there's a first time for everything, right?  
>Although she was trying to get used to everything, Lukas never really let her stray far away from the house whenever she was alone; always telling her that she could get lost or find wild carnivorous beasts such as bears and wolves if she exited the village on her own; no need to mention that his trick worked out fairly well, she did wander freely about the village, helping people with their tasks or just chatting a little, but she never placed a foot outside the village when she was alone, when she had something to do in the forest, like collecting firewood, she only went if and only IF there was someone, preferably someone with the ability to deal with the wild animals, with her. But, overall, she actually enjoyed the life in here, even if she did know that she was living with people that were considered ruthless killers by other peoples, and despite the cold of the place; talking about the cold, she had gained the habit of using Lukas' fur capes, always saying something along the lines:<br>"This place is too cold for me, how do you people handle it?"

Across all that time, she also got to know quite a few people, two of those people being Lukas' closest friends: Matthias from Denmark and Berwald from Sweden; they were nice, but her honest opinion was that, albeit nice, the danish was too loud and got drunk more often than she considered healthy, the swedish was a sweet man, but his quietness and his fix gaze often scared people, and then we had Lukas, he was sweet, maybe a little too blunt, he speak much, a little protective, but, a sweet person in general, and very patient if we have in account all the mistakes she had done while getting used to this new way of doing things, mistakes that she kept committing in some cases.  
>Oh, and she also discovered something quite astonishing! One day, Lukas and Berwald left her to keep an eye on Matthias as he drank while they went out to do... something. Now, after a few, or should I say, a whole lot of drinks later, he might have spilled out something about him and the other two being countries instead of regular humans; she found this a little suspicious, but never really commented on it. When she mentioned the dane's confession to the other two, though, she honestly thought that Matthias wouldn't escape alive from the norwegian's grasp, she would've interfered, but Berwald's hands were placed on top of her shoulders, keeping her on place; after a while, she promised she wouldn't tell a soul about it and the matter was forgotten.<br>Speaking of Matthias, hadn't he promised to take her for a stroll on the forest? Yes, he had, and he was running late, if Lukas arrived home before Matthias picked her up, then they wouldn't be able to go out!

"Hej! The King of Northern Europe's here!" announced Matthias as shot the door open.  
>"It wasn't about time, you stupid dane!" (fn) scowled, quickly grabbing one of Lukas' capes and placing it around her own shoulders.  
>"You're starting to sound like Norge, you know?" joked the blond.<br>"No, you're just stupid." she commented.  
>"Nej, most people call me an idiot or an airhead, you and Norge are the only ones to call me 'stupid dane'!" he remarked.<br>"Well, I do live with him, so it's only natural, oh Your Smartness, the King of Northern Europe!" mocked the (h/c) head, performing a bow, before grabbing the male's arm and start pulling him along. "Now, let's go before he comes and kicks you out for trying to get ME out!"  
>"Right, let's go!" he agreed.<br>They sneaked out of the house. It was a hard task not being seen by anyone as they tried to exit the village, or so they thought, since the alarm wasn't given like it always was everytime someone caught them trying to sneak into the forest.

"Ah, it's so good to come out and enjoy this air every once in a while!" mused the (h/c) head, happily skipping through the snowy grounds near the top of the fjords.  
>"Ahahah, come here, look at the sight from over-!" startled by the male's abrupt stop and the shout that left his mouth, she turned around just in time to see the point of the fjord breaking under his feet and, terrified, she saw him fall.<br>"MATTHIAS!" she called, running forward; he was dangerously dangling, just about to fall to the Nordic Sea.  
>"I'm fine!" he assured, struggling a little as to not fall.<br>"Ah, hang on..." she breathed out, panic rushing through her. "I'll get help!" she shot, suddenly starting to run back to the village, not even remembering about how much she would have to hear about ignoring the rules.

Meanwhile, in the norwegian village...  
>Lukas entered his house with a sigh, relieved of returning to the warm and comfortable place, but something seemed off; looking around, there was no sign inside the house of a presence other than his. (Fn) wasn't home, but he hadn't seen her in the village either, and she was too afraid go out on her own, and if she had gone out with someone, then someone would've warned him after he got back, and Berwald would've warned the entire village if she was to go out with him, otherwise...  
>"Matthias..." growled Norway under his breath, stomping back outside.<br>Most people stopped on their tracks at the sight of the fuming viking.  
>"Has anyone seen Matthias? Or (fn)? Or both?" he asked, everyone shook their heads negatively. The blond let out a desperate sigh, but then...  
>"Excuse me, Mr. Bondevik!" he heard a small voice and felt slight tugging on his tunic; looking down, it was a little girl that went by the name of Ingrid.<br>"Ingrid, did you see them?" he wondered, kneeling down to the child's height; she nodded promptly.  
>"I saw them sneaking into the forest!" she stated.<br>"I knew it..." he mumbled under his breath, before softly thanking the child: "Thank you for telling me this."  
>That was when...<br>"Lukas, Lukas, please! Help!" a call was heard, turning around, it was (f/n) that came running and stumbling out of the woods.  
>"Lukas, I'm so sorry, I will never disobey you again, I'll follow every rule, I'm so sorry, I didn't want for this to happen, I..." her teary confession was interrupted when Lukas started to stroke her cheek and wipe the panicked tears from her face.<br>"Hej, calm down and tell me happened." he asked, maybe a little too harshly.  
>"Me and Matthias, we were walking, b-but then Matthias, t-the fjord broke and he f-fell... H-he caught hims-self b-but he's t-too heavy and-d I-I can't p-pull him u-up!" she hiccuped; Norway's eyes narrowed at her explanation.<br>"Can you lead us there?" he demanded. Shakily, she nodded in response and didn't hesitate to grab his hand and lead him and a few others to the spot.

Right on the indicated spot, they saw the danish suspended by only one of his hands. Hurriedly, three men pulled Matthias up; Lukas didn't move, he stood slightly ahead of the (h/c) head, their hands remaining linked, his gaze harsh upon the man that was being lifted.  
>The dane thanked the norwegians who, perceiving the tension that emanated from the Bondevik, left; then, their gazes meet.<br>"Stupid." the word broke through the silence.  
>"Calm down, Norge!" said Matthias. "Nothing happened!"<br>"No, luck did us a favour..." agreed the shorter male.  
>"Then..."<br>"...this time!" completed Lukas.  
>"Why are you so mad anyway?" shot the danish; that was it.<br>"Why? Why?" growled the norwegian. "It could have been her instead of you! What then? You can hold yourself up, she cannot! But still, you ignored everything and took her to one of the more dangerous places in the surrounding area!" with every word, both Matthias and (f/n) flinched, aware of the stupidity they had committed.  
>"I'm sorry..." muttered the danish.<br>"Just, go home, I'm sure you have work to do." stated the norwegian, before walking back to the village with the (h/c) head trailing beside him.

"Lukas, I'm sorry..." whispered the girl as they sat close to the fireplace.  
>"Why?" he inquired.<br>"It's my fault that we went there!" she answered.  
>"I know."<br>"Then why are you mad at Matthias? You should be mad at me!"  
>"Because the dane was the one stupid enough to take you!" he replied, lifting his eyes from the fire to look at her.<br>"Still..." she started.  
>"And I couldn't be mad at you, because..." he began, causing a curious look to appear on (fn)'s eyes. He took her hands in his and was about to speak up, but...

"LUKAS AND (F/N) SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-..."  
>"DANE!" growled Lukas, taking off running after Matthias.<br>"I love you too, Lukas, I love you too..." she giggled in a whisper.


End file.
